Davis, a former BBC economics editor, has also previously presented BBC Radio 4’s Today programme for six years.

He said: “Having survived several years of people saying ‘you’re not as good as Jeremy Paxman’, I now look forward to people saying ‘you’re not as good as Eddie Mair’.

“I would have loved to stay longer at Newsnight and will miss the team who’ve been fantastic, but PM is presenter heaven and jobs like this don’t come along very often, and you have to grab them when you can.”

He added on Twitter: “I have to say, that I will genuinely miss the daytime office conversations with the BBC Newsnight team.

“Audiences perhaps don’t realise how much the output depends on the vitality and intelligence of some underpaid staff.”

Davis confirmed on Twitter that he is moving to PM at the end of October.

Until then PM will continue to be presented by different journalists, as has taken place since Mair’s departure at the start of August.

The BBC said it would say more about Newsnight’s future staffing “in due course”.

Davis is currently the show’s lead presenter alongside presenters Emily Maitlis and Kirsty Wark.

Explore these topics

5 thoughts on “Evan Davis to leave Newsnight and replace Eddie Mair as presenter of BBC Radio 4's PM”

This is all nice and cosy; keep it in house to avoid any noisy intruders. Same with the replacement for Evans I suspect. No need to advertise outside and avoid pesky questions about salaries. Pathetic.